January 31, 2007

Web Reconnaissance for 01/31/2007

A short recon of what’s out there that might draw your attention.

In the News: (Registration may be required to read some stories)
For GOP, Discord In Dissent On Iraq “Republican misgivings over President Bush's new war strategy are increasingly dividing the GOP as the Senate moves toward a showdown over the deployment of 21,500 additional troops to Iraq.” (READ MORE)

Centcom Pick Warns of Iran Influence in Gulf Region “Iran is positioning its military to deny U.S. access to the Persian Gulf while acting as a "destabilizing" influence in the region, President Bush's nominee to command U.S. forces in the Middle East told the Senate yesterday.” (READ MORE)

A Key Padilla Charge Is Reinstated “A federal appeals court on Tuesday reinstated a key terrorism charge, the only one carrying a potential sentence of life in prison, against suspected al-Qaeda operative Jose Padilla.” (READ MORE)

Homeland Security Employees Feeling the Blues “The employees have spoken. What they have said about job satisfaction has gratified four relatively small federal agencies and sent a jolt through the Department of Homeland Security, which scored last or almost last in job satisfaction, leadership and workplace performance.” (READ MORE)

Venezuela Poised to Hand Chávez Wide-Ranging Powers “The line forms every day after dawn at the Spanish Consulate, hundreds of people seeking papers permitting them to abandon Venezuela for new lives in Spain. They say they are filled with despair at President Hugo Chávez's growing power, and they appear not to be alone.” (READ MORE)

Advocates of troop surge about-face in Congress “For many in the Senate, they were for a surge of troops in Iraq before they were against it.” (READ MORE)

Senators sound alarm on climate “One-quarter of the Senate yesterday called global warming a serious threat to the world's future and urged quick action, despite disagreement on how to stem its effects.” (READ MORE)

Lawsuit accuses black officials of violating whites' voting rights “A federal court trial is expected to end this week in a Justice Department lawsuit seeking an end to "relentless voting-related discrimination" by black political leaders in a rural Mississippi county.” (READ MORE)

Senate Allies of Bush Work to Halt Iraq Vote “The new effort is aimed at blocking two nonbinding resolutions directly critical of the White House.” (READ MORE)

Reporter Who Was Jailed Testifies in Libby Case “Judith Miller, formerly of The Times, recounted details of her once- confidential interviews with I. Lewis Libby Jr.” (READ MORE)

German Court Issues Warrants for C.I.A. Agents “Prosecutors today obtained warrants for 13 C.I.A. agents allegedly involved in kidnapping a German citizen, Khaled el Masri.” (READ MORE)


News From the Front:
Bill Roggio writes Pentagon investigating Iran's Qods Force role in Karbala attack “IRGC's Qods Force is the prime suspect in the Karbala attack which killed 5 soldiers; we broke story on Friday, January 26 - On Friday, we reported that the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps' Qods Force was very likely behind the attack on the Provincial Joint Coordination Center in Karbala, which resulted in the kidnapping and execution of four U.S. soldiers.” (READ MORE)

Badger 6 writes Democracy in Iraq “I was reading an article in the Economist two days ago about the President’s proposed change in strategy in Iraq. The article reported that SEN Voinovich not longer believed democracy in Iraq is possible. I was puzzled when I read that. Democracy is here in Iraq. In December 2005 in national legislative elections, 76% of the registered electorate turned out to vote.” (READ MORE)

On the Web:
Michael Medved writes Victory Lessons from Ronald Reagan “With resurgent Democrats showing discipline and determination to regain the White House after two terms in the wilderness, the Republican rank-and-file felt uncertain and apathetic about the GOP’s most likely standard bearers. Sound familiar?” (READ MORE)

Paul Greenberg writes The home front “Yes, there is some good news out of Iraq, though you might never suspect it from the general run of stories about bomb blasts in Baghdad and deadly attacks on Iraqi and American forces elsewhere.” (READ MORE)

Tony Blankley writes No Third Way in Iraq “The current mentality in Washington -- to pretend that there is a third way between victory and defeat -- is morally despicable.” (READ MORE)

Debra J. Saunders writes See no dissent, call it science “It is a sign of how politicized global warming has become when a father's push for his daughter's junior high school science class to present both sides of the global warming controversy becomes a national story -- with the father being portrayed as the villain.” (READ MORE)

Michael McBride writes Turning Surge Into Victory “When I cracked 1776 on Wednesday to give it its long overdue read, there were two pleasant surprises. I found that it was autographed by the author-something I am appalled at myself for not remembering. And secondly, alone on the inner leaf just prior to Part One, I was greeted by a simple and profound quote from General George Washington?” (READ MORE)

Jules Crittenden writes Not in Front of the Kids, Honey “Fox reports the Bush administration had planned to release a detailed dossier on Iran’s interference and support for terrorism in Iraq. ‘Now, U.S. military officials say the decision to go public with the findings has been put on hold for several reasons, including concerns over the reaction from Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad — as well as inevitable follow-up questions that would be raised over what the U.S. should do about it.’”(READ MORE)

Ian writes LA Senator: ‘Would have been better off if the terrorists had blown up our levees’ “It’s a shame there’s no video of this: ‘Senator Mary Landrieu’s outrageous outburst this morning in which she remarked that we ‘would have been better off if the terrorists had blown up our levees’ is the latest episode in a stream of recent Democratic blame-shifting and accusations.’” (READ MORE)

Hugh Hewitt writes Senators Also Said They Were Beginning To Realize That The Vote, While Nonbinding, Would Be An Important Statement On Congressional Sentiment Regarding The War. “Oh, you mean like the troops, our Iraqi allies, and the enemy might be watching? The New York Times' story on the Senate's dance of the resolutions throws the paper behind John McCain's and Lindsey Graham's "Gang of 14," er, "benchmarks" draft in an attempt to leave the impression that the McCain resolution is the one favored by people serious about victory.” (READ MORE)

Kim Priestap writes British Police Thwart Kidnap and Beheading Plot “Eight people thought to be of Pakistani origin were arrested for plotting to kidnap a British Muslim soldier and video taping his torture and beheading. They then wanted to post the video tape on the internet. From Sky News: ‘The eight people arrested by terror police in Birmingham were allegedly planning an Iraq-style kidnapping and beheading in the UK.’” (READ MORE)

William Teach writes Why Mommy and Daddy Are Global Warming Nuts “Remember back a couple years ago when the book ‘Why Mommy is a Democrat’ came out? It was a good thing that Mommy didn't take the full Democrat position, otherwise the boys and girls woulldn't have been able to read it, as they would have been in a liberal medical center having their embryonic stem cells yanked from their cold, dead bodies for pointless research. Well, now we have another silly little indoctrination book, 'The Down To Earth Guide for Global Warming'” (READ MORE)

Right Wing Nut House writes What Do We Do About Iran? “Perhaps a better headline for this post should have been: Is there anything to be done about Iran? But since I am an inveterate warmonger and fire breathing neo-con – at least according to some of my more unbalanced critics – the idea that there actually is something to be done militarily about Iran appeals to my militaristic soul.” (READ MORE)

ShrinkWrapped writes Psychobabble and the Mis-use of Psychology “The current issue of New York magazine takes the pathologizing of one's political opponents to a new and thoroughly sordid level in an attack on President Bush, ‘The Loneliest President: What’s going on in George Bush’s mind? A psychopolitical survey.’ New York magazine is a light weight publication which exhibits the vice of an apparent congenital inability to explore any particular issue in any particular psychological depth, and the virtue of having its hand firmly on the pulse of New York Liberal Conventional Wisdom. The article is only surprising in its viciousness and shallowness.” (READ MORE)

Paul Mirengoff writes Boring from within “In my first post about the decision of William & Mary's president to remove the cross from the Wren Chapel, I argued that, though President Nichol claimed he was acting to protect the sensibilities of non-Christians on campus, his decision more likely was driven by his own sensibilities. I pointed out that Nichol had made the decision without any apparent attempt to determine campus sentiment, and that his wife had attempted, as counsel for the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, to force religious groups to admit and empower individuals hostile to their religion.”(READ MORE)

Curt writes When To Hit Iran? “It's getting harder and harder for people to dismiss the allegations that Iran is behind much of the bloodshed going on in Iraq against our troops: The most deadly improvised explosive devices being used against U.S. soldiers in Iraq continue to come from Iran, and Iran continues to provide more tactical training, according to explosive experts working with the U.S. military.” (READ MORE)

Chickenhawk Express writes Vietnam Redux - Radical Left Goes After US Soldiers, Again “This is part one of a video from the DC Protest Saturday. The young man in the gray sweatshirt is Joshua Sparling who lost his leg while serving in Iraq. Watch and hear the reactions as he exercises HIS free speech rights...” (READ MORE)

Dan Riehl writes Bush Must Pay The Price “It's unfortunate, I don't think I've ever seen such a lack of leadership in Washington as we are seeing today. Senator's and Representatives who proudly stood up to take what now appears to have been only a purely political stand by supporting and voting for a war they evidently never had the courage to see through. But not Bush. Foremost among many, he seems almost alone now, determined to stay the course.” (READ MORE)

Neptunus Lex writes C’mon, I mean how bad was it really? “You might have read yesterday that a Johns Hopkins University history prof made something of a splash when he asked of the national tragedy represented by 9/11 – ‘Was it really all that bad?’ I mean, after all, isn’t this whole ‘War on Terror’ thing a bit of an over-reaction?” (READ MORE)

Captain Ed writes Cult Group Ready For Major Battle “The cult group destroyed by the Iraqi-run offensive on the eve of Ashura may have been obscure, but they had one point in common with the other insurgencies in Iraq -- they were armed to the teeth. Close air support from the US forces backing up the IA units made the difference, as more that 260 cultists died with bags of ammunition surrounding them:”(READ MORE)

Blackfive writes Sergeant in Afghanistan - Stop the BS and ‘Let's Get It Done’ “I've got permission to go hot with this. This is typical of what I've been hearing. It's a manifesto of sorts from a Staff Sergeant in the fight in Afghanistan. He had an experience recently while on mid-tour leave to see his wife and baby boy that was the last straw:” (READ MORE)

Blonde Sagacity writes The Current Rules of Engagement in Iraq (i.e. Why We Could Lose) “The current ROE's in Iraq: (1) You must feel a direct threat to you or your team. (2) You must clearly see a threat. (3) That threat must be identified. (4) The team leader must concur that there is an identified threat. (5) The team leader must feel that the situation is one of life or death. (6) There must be minimal or no collateral risk. (7) Only then can the team leader clear the engagement.” (READ MORE)

Wretchard writes Those Happy Faces “For more than sixty years it has been the recipient of aid from the United Nations, Europe and the United States. In fact, ‘the highest per capita aid transfer in the history of foreign aid anywhere.’ Statesmen all over the world have paid homage to it. It's leadership has been praised and defended by Jimmy Carter. Charities have been established to support it.” (READ MORE)

Fuzzilicious Thinking writes Arkin, the War and Gymnastics "Mr. Arkin and I have a history. Last year he linked little ol' me and my under 100 visitors a day as an example of blogs he implied were "bought" by the Army, bypassing bigger blogs deeply "plugged in" to the miltary world. That led to far more trollish and DoD attention than I ever wanted [Check the links/comments above and you'll see Mr. Arkin doesn't have a track record of grasping the essential elements of things military]. Now to his latest inanity:" (READ MORE)

Jay Tea writes Unringing the bell "There's a rather fascinating (at least, to me) discussion going around the blogosphere and the real world lately, inspired by the Democrats' "non-binding resolution" against the war. And it's a simple question: Just what can Congress do, if it should choose, to end the US involvement in the fighting in Iraq?" (READ MORE)

Jay Tea writes Check, please! "The Constitution divides our government into three branches: the executive, the legislative, and the judicial. Congress makes the laws, the President enforces them, and the Supreme Court reviews them. The federal bureaucracy is almost entirely concerned with the enforcing of the law. As such, it falls under the executive branch. This means that every federal bureaucrat, even a Forest Ranger or a meat-packing inspector or a Circuit Court Clerk, is part of a chain of command that eventually ends in the Oval Office."(READ MORE)

Have an interesting post or know of a "must read?" Then send a trackback here and let us all know about it. Or you can send me an email with a link to the post and I'll update the Recon.

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